Methods for implementing automatic hover hold control systems known to the prior art rotary wing aircraft utilize completely independent control channels for the pitch and roll axes. To effect a heading change, the aircraft will rotate in the yaw axis. Since there is no advance information concerning what wind correction will be required for various heading orientations, the pitch and roll control channels do not respond until there are either velocity or position errors sufficient to cause a response. The lag between the occurrence of a change in heading, and therefore an accompanying change in the relative direction of wind impinging on the aircraft, together with the delay in the aircraft responding to the change in aircraft velocity and position, as a consequence of the pitch and lateral wind trims not changing when the relative direction of the wind to the aircraft changes as a consequence of a change in aircraft heading, all accumulate to introduce significant errors in position whenever a heading change is made during a hover maneuver. As a result, the aircraft may drift significantly from the desired hover position during heading changes, and typically will require repositioning, either manually or automatically.